Cigarette paper



Patented Jan. 1, 1952 CIGARETTE PAPER Milton 0. Schur, Asheville, and Robert M. Levy,

Brevard, N. 0., assignors to Ecusta Paper Corporation, a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Original application April 25, 1946,

Serial No. 665,001. Divided and this application June 23, 1951, Serial No. 233,251

3 Claims. 1

Our invention relates to cigarette paper and more particularly to improving the burning properties of the paper when the cigarette is smoked so that the resulting ash has desirabe properties. An important feature of our invention is the modifying of the burning properties of cigarette paper to avoid formation of carbonized paper particles that commonly appear as black curling ashes. Such ashes tend to flake off and fall from the cigarette onto the smokers clothes.

We have discovered that by certain chemical treatment, described hereafter, of the pulp or furnish from which the cigarette paper is made,

the black, falling ashes can be substantiallv eliminated. Moreover, a clinging, grayish-white ash of pleasing appearance is produced when the cigarette using this paper is smoked. The ash produced is more cohesive than usual, and while it may be flicked off easily at the will of the smoker, it is sufficiently cohesive and integrated to avoid the frequent accidental dropping of the ash on the smokers clothes.

In accordance with our invention, we introduce into the paper pulp at the beater or in the machine stock chest and before the pulp reaches the paper machine, about /2% to 5% of caustic alkali, e. g., sodium hydroxide, and about to 5% of phosphoric acid. It is important to incorporate these chemicals in the bleached and beaten pulp, after all of the usual pulp treating operations have been completed and the finished pulp is ready for web formation on the paper machine. By incorporating the sodium hydroxide and phosphoric acid in the pulp at this stage, a certain proportion of these chemicals will be retained in the finished cigarette paper. The in situ. reaction products of the caustic alkali and phosphoric acid, the exact identity of which is not known, effect the above-mentioned improvements in burning properties of the paper when the cigarette is smoked, so that the resulting ash has desirable properties.

A typical but non-limiting example of the procedure used for carrying out the process of our invention is as follows:

To the beaten pulp in the machine stock-chest, we add 2 caustic soda (based on weight of pulp) in the form of a 2% solution. About fifteen minutes after the caustic soda has been mixed into the stock, we add 1%% phosphoric acid .(based on weight of pulp) in the form of a solu tion containing approximately 25% phosphoric acid. The final stock density in the chest is about 2 The filler, which is calcium carbonate, is now added in the desired proportions, for example, 40% based on fiber, of which about will be retained in the paper. This addition may take place in the chest or in the stock-line between the Jordan and the paper machine headbox.

The calcium carbonate filler, which is retained in the paper, is the principal ash-producing constituent of the cigarette paper when burned.

Various modifications and changes may be made in the foregoing process, materials and products, without departing from the spirit and scope of our invention as defined in the appended claims. For example, the above-mentioned sodium hydroxide may be substituted by potassium hydroxide.

This application is a division of our application Serial No. 665,001, filed April 25, 1946.

We claim:

1. A cigarette paper composed predominantly of cellulosic fibers and calcium carbonate filler and containing the in situ reaction products of about to 5% of caustic alkali and about /g% to 5% of phosphoric acid.

2. A cigarette paper composed predominantly of cellulosic fibers and calcium carbonate filler and containing the in situ reaction products of about to 5% of sodium hydroxide and about 12% to 5% of phosphoric acid.

3. A cigarette paper composed predominantly of cellulosic fibers and calcium carbonate filler and containing the in situ reaction products of approximately 2%% sodium hydroxide and 1%% Name Date Harrison et al Apr. 11, 1950 Number 

1. A CIGARETTE PAPER COMPOSED PREDOMINANTLY OF CELLULOSIC FIBERS AND CALCIUM CARBONATE FILLER AND CONTAINING THE IN SITU REACTION PRODUCTS OF ABOUT 1/2% TO 5% OF CAUSTIC ALKALI AND ABOUT 1/2% TO 5% OF PHOSPHORIC ACID. 